An electronic apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,165B2 corresponding to JP-2003-289191A includes a housing having upper and lower portions, a circuit board received in the housing, and an electronic component mounted to the circuit board. The circuit board is sandwiched between the upper and lower portions of the housing and fixed to the housing by a mounting screw to prevent displacement (i.e., movement) of the circuit board from its mounting position in the housing. Therefore, the circuit board has first regions where the circuit board is fixed to the housing and the electronic component can be mounted to regions except the first regions. In short, the electronic component is prohibited from being mounted to the first regions, which are hereinafter called “the first prohibited regions”.
In a connector mounting structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,524B2 corresponding to JP-2004-206924A, a connector is fixed to a circuit board by a mounting screw inserted into a hole of a flange portion provided on each side wall of the connector. Therefore, the circuit board has second regions where the circuit board is fixed to the flange portion of the connector and the electronic component can be mounted to regions except the second regions. In short, the electronic component is prohibited from being mounted to the second regions, which are hereinafter called “the second prohibited regions”.
In an electronic apparatus having the structures disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,031,165B2 and 6,866,524B2, a circuit board needs both the first prohibited regions for fixing the circuit board to the housing and the second prohibited regions for fixing the connector to the circuit board. Therefore, a total area of the first and second prohibited regions occupies a larger proportion of a surface area of the circuit board. As a result, the size of the circuit board is increased unless the number of electronic components mounted to the circuit board is reduced.
The second prohibited regions may be eliminated by providing the flange portion to a bottom wall of the connector. However, this approach increases the height of the connector from the surface of the circuit board by the thickness of the flange portion. As a result, the height of the electronic apparatus is increased.